Shut Up to God in Prayer

Many of us want blessings from God. Hannah sought God in prayer through her desperate desire for a son. King David sought God in prayer for a mighty deliverance from the hands of his enemies.

Jacob sought God in a wrestling night of prayer to save his skin from his brother Esau, who was riding with 400 men to destroy him. Solomon sought God in prayer for wisdom and knowledge. Whatever the impetus of our prayer is, we feel a need to go to our God and receive an answer to our prayers.

Whether it's the form of guidance or protection, provision or blessing. Perhaps we desire further usefulness to him, or we long for a deeper walk with him. We desire a life of victory over sin, we hunger for a fresh touch from him in a personal revival.

We seek an anointing of power from on high for more effectual service to him and more fruitfulness for him. Perhaps it's a deliverance we're seeking from God out of a present trial or affliction. Whatever the motive is, friends, for our seeking of God, we still must go about it in a proactive way and seek his face through a season of desperate and anguished prayer.

There is a passage of scripture, which I believe will be helpful to us this evening, friends, for it demonstrates both the place of prayer and the importunity of prayer to move the God, the heart of God in answer to prayer. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 32, will be in verses 24 through 31. And I wish to draw out some pertinent examples in prayer through the life of Jacob as he is seen here in our passage engaged in prayer.

The title of my message this evening, friends, is shut up with God in prayer. And I believe one of the main reasons we do not receive what we ask for in prayer to the degree we desire is that we lack the discipline and importunity to seek God in a deeper way. I want to read us our passage of scripture at this time, beginning in verse 24.

And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. I will pause here for an observation. Notice our text as it declares, and Jacob was left alone.

I want to spend some time on this thought, friends, before we go further. If you take a look at the preceding verses, you will notice that Jacob had gotten his family up in the dead of night to move them to a place of safety while he awaited his brother Esau. Verses 22 and 23 read, and he rose up that night and took his two wives and his two women servants and his 11 sons and passed over the four Jabbok.

And he took them and sent them over the brook and sent over that he had. Jacob did this in the cover of night, so not to draw attention to his large family, who he was trying to protect from the fierceness of his brother Esau. But although this was the primary reason, there was another reason why Jacob did this.

We've seen our text and Jacob was left alone. Alone to what? Just wait his execution from the hands of Esau? No, Jacob wanted to be alone with his God. He had to clear out all the activity of his large family, all the distractions, all the noise of the herds, and shut himself up to God in prayer.

And I believe, friends, here's where most of us fail in our attempts to lay hold of God in prayer. We simply won't make the effort to get alone with him in a place of solitude with him, so we can hear that still small voice as he speaks to our hearts. Rather, we try to squeeze God into the business and the busyness of our day, and our attempt to pray turns out to be feeble at best.

Jacob had already prayed to his God before he removed his family. But here in this part of the passage, Jacob's still trying to squirm his way out of his dire condition by bribing his brother with his herds and flocks. But nonetheless, it is a time of prayer.

Look, if you will, at verses nine through 13. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands.

Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. And he lodged there that same night and took of that which came to his hand, a present for Esau, his brother.

Listen, friends, to how Jacob presents himself to his God. See how he humbles himself as he refers to the covenant of his fathers, how he admits he's not worthy of the mercies already received from God in preserving him, in maintaining him, and in prospering him. But Jacob is still self-focused here as he prays for his deliverance from Esau, his fear and his self-preservation are mainly the subject of his prayer.

He does remind God of the promises which God had already stated to him through that covenant with grandfather Abraham. And it's worthy to note, friends, that when we too seek God in prayer, we should remind God of his promises to us and then sue him back with his own promises. But here Jacob is still surrounded by the busyness and activity of his two bands, his large family, his servants, and all his herds.

He must get alone with his God for this is a very desperate hour. Jacob is wise, wise enough to move all the activity out of the way so he can further pursue his God in a time of desperate and anguished prayer at the Brook Jabbok. So Jacob, in the cover of night, moves his family out for their safety and his private time of prayer.

And we finally see him alone. And Jacob was left alone. Notice the next part of verse 24 where it states, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

Well, who is the man? Has been a subject of much conjecture with Bible scholars through the years. Was it Michael? Was it the Lord Jesus? I believe the answer to that question is found in verse 30 where Jacob says, for I have seen God face to face. I believe Jacob was wrestling with the angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ.

Jacob was wrestling with God in prayer. But notice, friends, the importunity in prayer which our text relates until the breaking of the day. A long time had passed in this wrestling with God in prayer.

I recall seasons in my own life where I was in a desperate time of wrestling with God in prayer myself. And the time just passed that when I was through praying, a couple hours had gone by, but it seemed as if I'd only just begun in prayer. There is importunity in prayer which must be maintained.

Our Lord spoke of this in the gospels, in the parables of the woman and the judge whom she pestered until he gave in to her requests. And the friend who came knocking at the door at midnight, asking for a loaf, which the man already had retired for the night, but he gave him the loaf so he could get back to sleep with his family. There must be a place of prayer.

There must be importunity in prayer. But notice this, friends, there is power in prayer. Look at verse 28.

And he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed. I believe the main reason that church in this country is so impotent at this hour, without any influence upon the wicked society in which it exists, is the sad fact that the American church has killed off the weekly prayer meeting and replaced it with other activities. Listen, friends, I believe that prayer is the fuel which powers the church.

And that's why so many churches are out of gas today. They are out of prayer. They have no power.

There is an old painting which hangs in a gallery, in a Spanish art gallery. In the portrait is a farmer on his knees, his straw hat by his side. He has just laid down his plow and his farm implements for a time of prayer.

In the distance of this painting is a church steeple with a bell tower. It's obvious to the observer that the church bell has just rung, calling the village to a time of prayer. But if you look more closely at that painting, you'll notice on the right-hand side, the form of an angel who's taken up the team of mule and plow and is turning a fresh furrow in the ground.

And the caption at the bottom of the soul painting has three words. And those three words are, no time lost. In other words, friends, when we're engaged in prayer, it's as if all of heaven's resources are unleashed on our behalf.

There's power enlisted in prayer. We can get more done in prayer than out of it. And I believe we get a sense of that from our passage here in Genesis, where Jacob is engaged in a night of prayer.

Notice he receives both answer to his prayer and a blessing from his prayer. Esau and he are friends once more as they are reconciled in chapter 33. And Jacob receives a spiritual blessing as well as his name is changed from supplanter to Israel.

I like what Stephen Offred used to say about Jacob. He would say, Jacob was so crooked, he could hide behind a corkscrew and his true friends. But crooked, conniving Jacob meets his God in prayer and his life is forever changed for he has a lingering influence and a power from that season of prayer for the rest of his days.

Now notice the last thing I'd like to draw out from our text. Look at verse 31. And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh.

He limped through life after that encounter with God. Every step he took made him wince in pain. It was a constant reminder to him of his utter dependence upon his God.

There was a cost involved in that season of prayer, friends. What cost counts and what counts costs. And here's where the rubber meets the road.

Many want the blessing from God, but few want the cost of the blessing. You don't want the limp, you don't want the pain. Leonard Ravenhill once said, everyone wants my mantle, but few want my sackcloth and ashes.

And it's true, friends, there was a cost and a price involved in a seeking of God in a time of prayer. Oh, if we could only grasp this fact and make it a reality in our personal lives, if we would only take the time to shut ourselves up to God in prayer, in a private place of prayer, and pour out our heart to God in a season of anguish prayer, how different our lives could be, what a difference it could make in the life of our churches if we'd only make time to have nights of desperate prayer where the people of God are on their faces before God in humility and brokenhearted prayer. Let me ask you a question, brother pastor.

If the carpet in your sanctuary isn't wet with the tears of the prayers from brokenhearted saints, how can you call yourself a church? How can you have any power with God or any influence upon your community? Oh, friends, how this nation could be turned back to the God of the Bible if only the people of God got serious with him in prayer, if we must be Jacob-like and make time for prayer and spend time in prayer to receive an answer to our prayers from a God who hears prayer. Through Jacob's desperate night of prayer, his life was preserved and honor was bestowed upon him. Yes, there are some here who desire a blessing from God, but let me ask you, friend, are you serious about it? Are you willing to make time for prayer in an earnest seeking of God's face? Are you willing to make the sacrifice of prayer? Are you willing to pay the cost of prayer? God gets serious with those who get serious with him.

The times in my own life where I have met my God have been times of serious, sacrificial, desperate, and prolonged prayer. Let us go now to a time of prayer as we seek the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Let us pray.